ADP SmartCompliance vs. Gusto

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ADP SmartCompliance
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
ADP SmartCompliance is a tax and regulatory compliance platform for midsize or larger companies using an ERP or non-ADP platform for HR and HRMS services.N/A
Gusto
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Gusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.
$46
per month
Pricing
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
$40/month + $6/mo per person
$12 per employee/contractor
Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
$80/month + $12/mo per person
Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
Exclusive pricing, contact Gusto
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPricing varies based upon modules deployed and features enabled.Gusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR, so you can choose the plan that meets your business needs.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Type of tax
Comparison of Type of tax features of Product A and Product B
ADP SmartCompliance
8.9
9 Ratings
5% above category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Sales and Use Taxes9.53 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-border Taxes8.07 Ratings00 Ratings
VAT / GST Taxes9.11 Ratings00 Ratings
Energy and Fuel Taxes9.11 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Reporting & Compliance
Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Product A and Product B
ADP SmartCompliance
7.7
40 Ratings
8% below category average
Gusto
-
Ratings
Geolocation for Tax Assessment7.111 Ratings00 Ratings
3rd-Party Software Integrations8.121 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Data Reporting7.939 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance Administration Management7.232 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Exemption Processing8.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Document Management7.332 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex Tax Scenario Management8.124 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
ADP SmartCompliance
-
Ratings
Gusto
8.4
163 Ratings
1% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings8.3155 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings8.58 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings7.6107 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings8.4158 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings8.1134 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings9.511 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Small Businesses
Canopy
Canopy
Score 9.5 out of 10
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
LOVAT
LOVAT
Score 10.0 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Vertex
Vertex
Score 8.5 out of 10
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(134 ratings)
7.0
(176 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.8
(29 ratings)
8.9
(7 ratings)
Usability
7.8
(37 ratings)
8.1
(3 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.5
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.6
(37 ratings)
1.6
(24 ratings)
In-Person Training
4.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.3
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
4.8
(22 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Configurability
7.9
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.9
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.7
(11 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.5
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.4
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ADP SmartComplianceGusto
Likelihood to Recommend
ADP
There has been much end user improvement on this site over the 3 years that I have been using it. I really appreciate the focus and attention ADP has place on making this a user friendly site so that their customers can better navigate their payroll tax issues. I look forward to the additional features that will be added in another three years time. I really am able to be quite efficient within my role because of the ease of use of this site.
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Gusto
I would love to use Gusto for companies of all staff sizes but I understand that larger businesses will opt for a PEO and willingly give up flexibility and features to do that. However, I love that Gusto can be customized on so many levels – offer letter, adding documents for new hires, document verification, deploying documents to existing staff, tracking who has signed, helping staff select health benefits (love that this is an entirely paperless process!), screen share support (love this!), a host of integrations with other apps are easy to link up. The interface is delightful (love the piglet!), HR support for Master Admins is very professional. There are templates, forms, rules and updates provided for all States. And the reports are so easy to read, customize and understand. Amazing!
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Pros
ADP
  • It helps us identify our employees who entered their account information incorrectly and get the payment reissued to them as quickly as possible.
  • It helps us quickly and securely issue payment to employees who terminate.
  • We efficiently get our garnishments processed to remain compliant.
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Gusto
  • The self-service aspect of the software is very nice. We rarely need to get customer service involved.
  • For the first 2 years of our subscription to Gusto, customer service has been good when we needed it.
  • We have also had good experience with third parties recommended by Gusto including a 401(k) administrator, R&D tax credit analyst, and background check software.
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Cons
ADP
  • ADP should have their SC employees better trained to give consistent answers about how to handle certain tax issues relating to the states. I seem to get a different answer multiple times.
  • It's difficult to distinguish between which cases/letters goes through ADP Workforce Now Service Connect and which cases go through SmartCompliance. I have been told differently on many occasions and will find a case in both places.
  • While many of the agency notices of tax rate changes, etc. are a very quick process and ADP "resolves" the case, I find other notices get lost in the shuffle when it doesn't fit exactly into the rate change bucket or the past due bill that says "Just Pay It". Some letters aren't that straightforward.
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Gusto
  • The support isn't very impressive, although it's rare that we even need their help.
  • I would like to see a better scheduling tool for the staff. Currently I have to use Homebase for this feature alone because Gusto's offering is lacking in this area.
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Likelihood to Renew
ADP
There is no other option on the table for us at the moment to go with a different vendor. We also have had very little issues processing with ADP that would make us want to look for a new vendor.
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Gusto
Unless they break it, I'm never leaving. It's just too easy. Gusto is also really affordable, and for what I pay, it's worth having the historical record within the system. I like that I can go back and pull up W2's for year's past. This sort of easy access reporting, has been helpful especially when getting reports for PPP loans.
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Usability
ADP
For the most part, one can get in and learn how to navigate the system by just clicking on one of the suject areas. If you have a good clientrepresentative, they will inform you of new features/functionality and give you a quick demo. This is helpful for one to go back in and navigate to learn how it works and usefulness.
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Gusto
The UI is clean and simple. It's incredibly easy to find what you need to find, and if you can't, a quick search of their help files will direct you where you need to go about 90% of the time. For that last 10%, a support e-mail will result in a quick answer. Almost any time I try to do something new I haven't done before with Gusto, I can do it in a few minutes.
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Reliability and Availability
ADP
We have never experienced unavailability with ADP. They communicate promptly when there is a holiday or if the system is down for maintenance. The maintenance schedule is during times when it is least used
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Gusto
No answers on this topic
Performance
ADP
If ADP is having issues, they communicate the problem within the solution once you log in. They also communicate that the issue will be fixed promptly. Reports run efficiently and in a reasonable amount of time. Also, the reports allow for various reporting types to be produced like a PDF or a Microsoft Excel file.
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Gusto
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
ADP
As mentioned in the last comment, everyone and everything has been great. However sometimes you get one person that I feel can bring a score down and the current dedicated tax representative I have I do not feel is very supportive.
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Gusto
Gusto's customer service has really deteriorated lately and they seem to have really changed their focus. It used to be when you called you were routed to an individual who knew about payroll, benefits, reporting, etc. but now you get someone who seems to have not received the correct training. My last call about a dismissal payroll took me over an hour of my time and the person still could not help me and finally transferred me to someone else.
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In-Person Training
ADP
I haven't participated in in-person training yet.
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Gusto
No answers on this topic
Online Training
ADP
They have annual training for Smart Compliance, which is very helpful. We learn the most up to laws for various subject matters, like garnishments, payroll law, child support, state unemployment laws by states. We also earn credit toward certifications. The training is user friendly, and highly recommended. It can be done live or listened to at your own convenience.
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Gusto
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
ADP
Currently all electronic copies of our returns have to be downloaded one at a time. There should be a way to download all returns for a quarter in a zip file or single download.
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Gusto
Super easy to implement and use!
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Alternatives Considered
ADP
ADP SmartCompliance was easily integrated with WFN and all of our employee data was in one place. We saw this as an advantage instead of having to log into multiple platforms, everything was quickly accessible to respond to a VOE or claim.
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Gusto
Gusto was the only payroll provider we used for our business. Before Gusto we were running payroll manually, which was cumbersome and didn’t account for our tax liability. Gusto is heads and shoulders above running payroll manually. It takes the load of payroll management off your shoulders and gives employees and easy to use portal to manage their personal payroll information.
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Scalability
ADP
ADP has the ability to scale across departments. This was found to be true when we rolled out the wage payment solution. ADP users are able to view their pay stubs on their phones and/or computers. This wage payment portal offers W2 storage and paystub storage for access at any time by an employee.
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Gusto
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
ADP
  • The customer service phone service for the ADP Wisely service is very bad. No understanding or a language barrier is a very difficult service to deal with. Also working with them to correct a situation was impossible. It is basically non existent.
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Gusto
  • Saves me time and time is money so I've definitely saved money using Gusto over other payroll providers
  • 401k integration was not a good fit for my size company unfortunately, which I was disappointed about initially, but if you are a larger company it could be an excellent asset to your benefits structure for your team
  • Has increased employee retention because of its ease of use
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ScreenShots

ADP SmartCompliance Screenshots

Screenshot of

Gusto Screenshots

Screenshot of Flexible, automated payrollScreenshot of Time-off trackingScreenshot of The source of truth for HR data